Big sigh of relief from Devils fans and from Pete DeBoer, I’m sure. First of all, it was the smart move by Brodeur to pull himself out of a late February game against the Jets rather than risk seriously aggravating his back and missing an elongated period of time. In this shortened season, injuries like that can get much worse very fast if the players/teams aren’t vigilant. Also, a sore back is much better than say lingering pain in his shoulder from that ridiculous shot he was hit with a few days back. With the Devils off (game-wise) until Thursday, there was no reason to rush or push anything involving a sore back for a 40-year-old goalie. Brodeur also said afterwards that he’s not worried about any lingering issues and my guess is they’ll give him a light workload in practice this week before starting him Thursday in Winnipeg.